The Problem with PETA

Most people are against mistreating animals, yet few go as far as PETA. Their “uncompromising” position on a variety of topics makes it hard to get on board: They are against zoos. They are against eating meat. They are against pets.[i]

That’s a tough sell in America where 175 million people visited zoos in 2013;[ii] only 3.2% of U.S. adults follow a vegetarian diet (only .5% are strictly vegan);[iii] and people own an estimated 178 million dogs and cats.[iv]

PETA may claim to represent animals, but they clearly do not represent people.

Much Ado About Lions

On September 9, the Bowmanville Zoo took a baby lion and tiger to a Toronto Blue Jays game. Toronto pitcher Mark Buehrle had visited the zoo and asked the zoo director, Michael Hackenberger, to bring the cubs down to meet the team as a pre-game morale booster.

Photos of the cubs in the clubhouse soon appeared on social media and it was not long before PETA pounced.

Calling it “cruel and dangerous,” they wrote to Blue Jay executives demanding they denounce it and never do it again.[v] Buehrle called PETA’s criticisms “stupid.” The official Blue Jays response was only slightly more diplomatic.[vi]

And there it would have ended except for an article on Top of the Tower, a Toronto online sports site.[vii] Their coverage was similar to most media outlets, but they added a voting widget at the end. This made it possible to see what everyone thought, not just PETA.

As of September 20 at high noon EST (five days after voting began), the results were:

The vast majority of readers felt that PETA was out of line. It’s one thing to protect animals quite another to lash out at people with a holier-than-thou attitude every time you disagree with them.

Hello Internet

It used to be that special interest groups like PETA and the NRA had the upper hand. They had money, knew how to manipulate the media, and thus looked bigger than they actually were. They didn’t have to lead, they could just bully. Not now. With the click of a mouse anyone (and more importantly, everyone) can voice their opinions, too.

Now we know that only 12% of the people that voted support PETA on this issue and, equally important, 85% don’t.

But it makes no difference to PETA. And therein lies the problem.

The Terrorists Among Us

PETA doesn’t engage, it proclaims. Other opinions don’t matter. There’s no room for discussion or debate. No exceptions. If someone disagrees with them they attack.

The fact they take pride in their “uncompromising” positions is worrisome. It’s the sign of a closed mind, the signature of an extremist. Is PETA equivalent to religious fanatics who kill innocent people? No. Is their mindset the same? Yes.

If you’re not willing to listen to other people’s opinions, then you can’t sit at the table of civilization — because that’s the price of a chair.

[i] http://www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/

[ii] https://www.aza.org/visitor-demographics

[iii] http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/vegetarianism-in-america/

[iv] http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html

[v] http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/09/15/toronto-blue-jays-criticized-by-animal-rights-group-for-inadvertently-supporting-cruelty-and-neglect

[vi] http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/09/16/toronto-blue-jays-gm-alex-anthopoulos-offers-subdued-response-to-peta-criticism

[vii] http://tipofthetower.com/2014/09/16/toronto-blue-jays-peta-right-criticize

Photo: Oleg Zabielin. Royalty Free. Purchased from Dreamstime.com.